1
"A new day welcomes you."
When the door of the sleeping chamber opened, Lian Chuan heard the familiar system greeting.
He yawned.
The voice was exactly the same as the first time he heard it. The same female voice, the same pitch, and the same speaking speed.
When Lian Chuan walked out of the sleeping cabin, he was still thinking about the meaning of this greeting as a greeting.
The morning that never changes.
Wake up, hear the sound, the cabin door opens, and take a step with your left foot.
Is it really a new day? Not the day before? Or a day many days later
But his thinking is meaningless. There is not much difference between every day and every other day. Every day is today.
The only thing that could be used as a clue was the splitting headache that he would get from time to time.
I had a headache all day when I went to bed.
Woke up with no headache.
So it's a new day.
He glanced at the watch on his wrist and saw a green 0 on the face.
Rest today.
He took out two cubes from the breakfast box, one white and one brown. Letters printed on the transparent packaging told him that the white one was egg and the brown one was beef.
It is indeed a new day, and the last breakfast is green and white.
But he didn't eat it because the color made him lose his appetite.
There was a brief noise from the intercom on the table.
When Lian Chuan picked up the intercom, he heard Li Liang's voice.
"First Central School," Li Liang said breathlessly, "Come right over."
"Redundant?" Lian Chuan turned around and opened the closet, but as soon as he asked, he knew it was definitely not the case. It was just clearing out redundant population and there was no need for the resting team members to return to the team.
"It may be a mutation ability, but it cannot be stripped away," Li Liang said, "It's already stuck..."
Captain Lei Yu's voice came from the intercom: "Back off!"
Then there was a burst of noise.
Li Liang was lying on the ground, his ears were so shaken that he could not hear anything except a constant buzzing sound. All he could see was smoke and dust, and the only thing he could see were the black fragments wrapped in the smoke and dust.
I don't know which team member's fragment it belongs to.
He coughed a few times and looked around, trying to find the other team members.
"All students were evacuated."
Li Liang finally heard the voice on the intercom, and then heard the captain's voice: "Disperse the team, press forward, three or four groups will surround him from behind the building and force him to the open space outside the building!"
"Aren't you going to wait for Lian Chuan to arrive?" Li Liang stood up, leaned against a piece of iron plate that flew from somewhere, and looked into the building in front of him, but did not see anyone.
"Four teams are here! Are we still missing Lian Chuan?" A hoarse voice was filled with impatience and anger, "Is Lian Chuan the savior? If you have no confidence in yourself and the people fighting alongside you, what are you doing?"
Li Liang didn't say anything else. When the team members in front started to move, he kept a few meters away and pressed towards the building in the left front direction.
"Keep your eyes on him," Lei Yu lowered his voice, "when he attacks, there will be a red light first."
The red light appears for a very short time. Not to mention that they don't know the specific location of the target now. Even if they know it, the flash of red light is so short that most team members have no time to react. As long as there is anyone within the attack range, they will die.
But he still had to tighten the encirclement, as there was a school and a hospital nearby.
The target must be controlled before Lianchuan comes over.
The only one who could react between the red light and the attack was Lian Chuan. Everyone knew this, including the furious Long Biao.
"I still have two blocks to go," Lian Chuan's voice came from the intercom, "Target?"
Lei Yu stared at the building, but could not see any movement. The surroundings were also eerily quiet, and all the team members were on standby behind the bunkers.
"It's a teacher," Li Liang briefly introduced himself in the private channel and sent him the coordinates. "During class, he suddenly started talking about... time, whether it has a beginning, whether it has an end... some very strange things."
Lian Chuan didn't say anything on the other end.
"We received a suspected judgment order and came to recover it," Li Liang said, "He suddenly attacked."
"Method?" Lian Chuan asked.
"Explosion," Lei Yu said, "You can't see the trajectory, but it's too late to adjust the equipment. You must make it a fatal blow."
"I understand." Lian Chuan said and then fell silent.
When Lei Yu wanted to confirm his position again, a red light flashed in the building.
A few meters away, there was a sudden cloud of dust, and then a loud explosion sounded in his ears, followed by a piece of black debris passing by his eyes.
This is the team member who was just hit.
A new member of the team who just performed the recycling mission for the first time today.
Fragments of him, to be exact.
His face.
Lei Yu could even see a somewhat confused expression on his face.
After the attack, a dark shadow flashed past the rightmost window on the third floor.
"He's coming out!" Lei Yu roared, stretched out his arm from behind the cover, and the gun equipped on the exoskeleton accurately hit the window at the same time.
"Follow me!" Long Biao rushed to the front of the building, lowered his body, and temporarily hid behind a broken pillar.
The pillars provided no cover, but Lei Yu did not stop.
After a brief pause, Long Biao stood up again and rushed into the building at a rapid speed. The three team members followed him in.
"On the second floor!" Li Liang's urgent voice came from the intercom.
No one saw how the target got from the third floor to the second floor, and no one had time to think about it, as Long Biao and his team would immediately confront the target directly.
According to the mission description, the target is a teacher, 21 years old.
But the target in front of him looked much younger than 21 years old, more like a teenager.
Despite this, he raised his hand without hesitation, and the weapon on his arm emitted a dark blue light, like a tiny lightning bolt.
A goal is a goal, regardless of age or identity, and a task is a task that must be completed.
But he saw the red light.
There was also a slender black shadow passing through the red light.
He knew he would have no chance of hitting the firing mechanism on his weapon again.
And I know I won’t die.
A loud bang came from his left, and broken stones wrapped in thick dust and accompanied by air waves rushed towards him, and he was shaken and flew sideways more than a meter away.
But he was not hurt, and the targeted attack missed.
The black shadow knocked the target several meters away, kicked the wall before landing, turned half a circle in the air, and landed in front of the target.
Brown-red fur, erect black ears, slender and strong hind legs, amazing jumping ability...
This is Lianchuan’s caracal.
The target had already fallen to the ground, but before anyone could determine the form of his attack, the red light appeared again.
Then disappeared.
This time the attack failed to succeed.
His body had been pierced.
A hole ran through his abdomen, with black ash on the edges, rising and falling gently with his breathing.
The only person who could seize the initiative and attack at such a speed was Lian Chuan.
Long Biao wiped his face, stood up, and looked at his team members. No one was injured.
"The target has lost the ability to attack." Lian Chuan looked down at the motionless man at his feet.
"Recover." Lei Yu's voice came from the intercom.
Lian Chuan took off the recovering device he was carrying on his back. This thing that looked like a small cannon barrel was as familiar to him as a part of his body. The barrel slid through his palm and aimed at the target on the ground.
"I don't want to disappear." The target looked at him, his face showing no pain from the injury, surprisingly calm.
Lian Chuan didn't say anything and pressed the recycle button.
The body on the ground immediately began to twist and crack, turning into small black fragments, just like the team members who were killed in the explosion before. The fragments were spinning as if there was wind.
Finally, all of them were sucked into the recovery port.
The mission was over, but everyone was a little depressed.
It was quite unexpected that this ordinary recycling mission, which should have been easily completed by one team, actually mobilized four teams and lost three members.
The remaining team members are cleaning up the scene, and all traces will be eliminated, whether left by the target or by the team members.
Lei Yu personally recovered the remains of the three dead team members and walked up to Lian Chuan: "Have you had breakfast?"
"No." Lian Chuan said.
"Come with me to the headquarters for dinner," Lei Yu glanced at his watch, and a few lines of small words flashed on the display screen, "Then go to the City Affairs Office. The administrator wants to see you this week. There is no specific time limit. Let's meet today."
"Yeah." Lian Chuan responded and turned to walk out.
The caracal that had been following him jumped onto the fence, then onto a rooftop by the roadside and disappeared behind a chimney.
Lei Yu looked at the roof and asked, "Has the cat had breakfast?"
"This is not a cat." Lian Chuan turned around and glanced at him.
"Have you had breakfast, Boss?" Lei Yu asked again.
"I don't know," Lian Chuan said, "I ate it. I don't know where it went at night. I only saw it when I was almost here."
"They are more relaxed than us." Lei Yu stopped beside the car at the edge of the cordon, opened the door, and looked at the rest of the team members. "Groups one and two will carry out the original cleanup tasks. Groups three and four will patrol the five-kilometer block centered on the school. If they find anything unusual, they will report it first and then take action."
Lian Chuan followed Lei Yu into the car. The destination of the automatic driving was set to the internal defense building, the headquarters of the cleanup team.
Although it was the headquarters, he hadn't been there for a long time. The cleanup team had its own base, and the only one who frequently went in and out of the headquarters was team leader Lei Yu.
"When will you come back for dinner?" Lei Yu asked.
"When I'm hungry." Lian Chuan looked out the window.
The school is located in the new district of the main city, the most prosperous and safest area in the main city, where pedestrians smile and walk with ease.
But the car only needs to drive forward a little further, and it won’t take long before it reaches another world, where Lian Chuan’s mission will be mostly carried out.
Every time he returned to the safety of the new district, he felt a little uncomfortable.
"Auntie Chun misses you." Lei Yu said.
"I miss her too." Lian Chuan said. Aunt Chun is Lei Yu's wife Chun San. In Lian Chuan's memory, she is almost like a mother.
"From the tone, it doesn't seem like it." Lei Yu smiled.
"Tomorrow afternoon," Lian Chuan retracted his gaze toward the window and turned his head, "I'll go back to eat."
Lei Yu smiled and patted his shoulder.
"You may need to explain the specific situation of this target to Minister Chen later," Lei Yu said after coming out of the cleanup team base, "You have direct contact with the target."
"Yeah." Lian Chuan nodded.
"Lianchuan." Lei Yu looked at him.
Lian Chuan also turned and looked at Lei Yu.
"Is there anything unusual that you need to report to me first?" Lei Yu said.
Lian Chuan didn't say anything. He thought in silence for a while before speaking: "I'm sure there isn't."
"Okay." Lei Yu nodded.
"It's just the simplest attack," Lianchuan said, "The only winning point is speed. Other than that, there's nothing special. Even the distance can't be said to be very far. It's different from... those."
"Well," Lei Yu nodded again, "It's not that I don't trust you."
"I know." Lian Chuan said.
When entering the inner defense building, Lei Yu paused and looked around: "Cats are not allowed in..."
"It's not a cat." Lian Chuan said.
"It can't go in." Lei Yu said.
"It really doesn't want to go in." Lian Chuan nodded.
The internal defense building was just as busy as I remembered. People coming in and out had serious faces. There was a guard no more than five meters away, adding a layer of tension to the busyness and seriousness.
But in fact, apart from the upcoming celebration day, nothing else special happened. Tension and depression are the norm at the headquarters, and it is also one of the reasons why Lian Chuan doesn't like to come here.
Minister Chen’s office is underground, but I don’t know exactly which floor it is.
Lianchuan tried it when he was bored, but he could only tell that there were three turns.
"That's all?" Minister Chen sat behind his desk and asked after listening to Lian Chuan's report, "It has nothing to do with the previous failed recovery... right? Except that it can't be peeled off?"
"This is based on my personal experience," Lian Chuan said.
Minister Chen exchanged a glance with Lei Yu, but Lei Yu said nothing.
"Your personal experience is enough," Minister Chen clasped his hands together and smiled at Lian Chuan, "Are you ready to meet the administrator?"
"Anytime." Lian Chuan replied.
Although the title of administrator sounds a bit casual, just like the City Affairs Office and the Internal Defense Building... But the three administrators of the main city are the core of the operation of this huge city. Apart from daily operations, all major decisions are decided by the three administrators together.
There are very few people who can talk directly to the administrator. For someone like Lian Chuan who is just an ordinary cleaning team member, such an opportunity will never come once in his lifetime.
But this was Lian Chuan's second time entering the deepest part of the underground of the City Affairs Hall to meet the administrator.
Maybe it happened more than twice, maybe three or four times, who knows? Memory is just a picture that cannot prove anything.
Just like the inner defense building, no one knew how deep underground the City Affairs Hall was or how large its area was. People only knew that all the confidential departments of the main city were hidden deep underground and never saw the light of day.
Lian Chuan stood in the transport car. He was the only one in the entire car. It was pitch black outside the meaningless window. There was only one light in the car. The weak light that spilled out could only illuminate a space of less than one meter. All he could see was still thick darkness.
The carriage kept moving downwards, and I could feel it was rotating to the right, but it was not obvious and the circle was very large.
After a few slight vibrations, the car stopped. Lian Chuan moved his eyes away from the car door and only observed with his peripheral vision.
When the door in front of me opened, a strong white light suddenly lit up, and there was a dazzling light in front of me.
The last time he opened the door, he was almost blinded by the light. If there was any emergency, he would have to rely on his hearing for at least three seconds, which was too passive.
Walk out of the carriage, pass through the corridor where there is no shadow due to strong light, and then walk through the door that opens automatically, and you will reach the administrator's reception room.
When Lian Chuan came in for the first time, he was so nervous that his heartbeat and breathing were rapid.
Not this time.
It’s not because I’m used to it, but because…
He glanced at the three empty chairs behind the semicircular table in the reception room.
There is no one here at all.